* SciFiGhetto — The prologue to the Spanish translation makes it clear that "science fiction" also includes "fiction about science" (i.e. cryptography and information theory). The mass market paperback edition lists the book as "fiction" instead of "science fiction." Bookstores aren't convinced, however, and stock it in the "Science Fiction" section.

to:

* SciFiGhetto — SciFiGhetto: The prologue to the Spanish translation makes it clear that "science fiction" also includes "fiction about science" (i.e. cryptography and information theory). The mass market paperback edition lists the book as "fiction" instead of "science fiction." Bookstores aren't convinced, however, and stock it in the "Science Fiction" section.

* TheWoobie -- Goto Dengo goes through arguably the worst the book can dish out. It helps that, unlike every other Japanese officer and soldier we meet in the book, he's not evil or holding the IdiotBall.

to:

* TheWoobie -- TheWoobie: Goto Dengo goes through arguably the worst the book can dish out. It helps that, unlike every other Japanese officer and soldier we meet in the book, he's not evil or holding the IdiotBall.

*** Randy doesn't really refute Kivistik's point either; he simply argues that his analogy is invalid because a network is not physically the same as a highway. Kivistik's 'ad hominem' attack, while smug, was in service of pointing out that Randy has lived all his life in a situation where advanced technology has always been available and can't really comprehend that the situation is different for others who have not had his advantages.

** Kivistik said that being able to understand technical books is a privilege conferred on members of an "elite class" of technocrats. Randy pointed out that he went to a public school, a state college, and was self-trained; hardly out of reach of your average American. At no point did he ever clarify his original metaphor, and only called Randy a "technocrat" by way of ad hominem. He only described what a technocrat even was ''after'' Randy said how he gained his knowledge. By his own definition, being poor has ''nothing'' to do with whether one can understand a technical manual. People learn a lot of that stuff by going down to the ''library''.

to:

** Kivistik said that being able to understand technical books is a privilege conferred on members of an "elite class" of technocrats. Randy pointed out that Except for the part where he went to a public school, a state college, and was self-trained; hardly out of reach of your average American. At no point did he ever clarify his original never actually explained himself, when challenged just used another metaphor, and only called Randy a "technocrat" by way of ad hominem. He only described what a technocrat even was ''after'' Randy said how then began trying to AdHominem Randy's arguments when he gained his knowledge. By his own definition, being poor has ''nothing'' to do with whether one can understand a technical manual. People learn a lot of that stuff by going down to the ''library''.spoke up.

** Kivistik said that being able to understand technical books is a privilege conferred on members of an "elite class" of technocrats. Randy pointed out that he went to a public school, a state college, and was self-trained; hardly out of reach of your average American. At no point did he ever clarify his original metaphor, and only called Randy a "technocrat" by way of ad hominem. He only described what a technocrat even was ''after'' Randy said how he gained his knowledge. By his own definition, being poor has ''nothing'' to do with whether one can understand a technical manual. People learn a lot of that stuff by going down to the ''library''.

* YellowPeril -- Granted that Stephenson is fully backed up by the research in terms of the behavior of Japanese soldiers during World War II, but it is somewhat awkward to realize that Goto Dengo is the only Japanese character during the World War II sections of the book who is not, at best, holding the IdiotBall and is not, at worst, an incredibly vile human being. Implying that their culture made them that way, while arguably somewhat true, [[UnfortunateImplications really doesn't help matters.]]

* TheWoobie -- Goto Dengo goes through arguably the worst the book can dish out. It helps that, unlike every other Japanese officer and soldier we meet in the book, he's not a CompleteMonster or holding the IdiotBall.

to:

* TheWoobie -- Goto Dengo goes through arguably the worst the book can dish out. It helps that, unlike every other Japanese officer and soldier we meet in the book, he's not a CompleteMonster evil or holding the IdiotBall.

* HoYay -- Alan Turing and Rudy. Or as Rudy put it, Alan would soon have an umlaut in him. Alan also propositioned Waterhouse, but was turned down politely.** Rudy and [[spoiler:Bischoff]], later in the book.

* YellowPeril -- Granted that Stephenson is fully backed up by the research in terms of the behavior of Japanese soldiers during World War II, but it is somewhat awkward to realize that Goto Dengo is the only Japanese character during the World War II sections of the book who is not, at best, holding the IdiotBall and is not, at worst, an incredibly vile human being. Implying that their culture made them that way, while arguably somewhat true, [[UnfortunateImplications really doesn't help matters.]]

to:

* YellowPeril -- Granted that Stephenson is fully backed up by the research in terms of the behavior of Japanese soldiers during World War II, but it is somewhat awkward to realize that Goto Dengo is the only Japanese character during the World War II sections of the book who is not, at best, holding the IdiotBall and is not, at worst, an incredibly vile human being. Implying that their culture made them that way, while arguably somewhat true, [[UnfortunateImplications really doesn't help matters.]]]]* TheWoobie -- Goto Dengo goes through arguably the worst the book can dish out. It helps that, unlike every other Japanese officer and soldier we meet in the book, he's not a CompleteMonster or holding the IdiotBall.----

Community

Tropes HQ

TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. Privacy Policy